


the laugh

by ebonynightwriter



Series: Terraqua Week 2019 [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Arendelle (Disney), Cabin Fic, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Snow, Storytelling, Teasing, Terraqua Week (Kingdom Hearts), Terraqua Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 04:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20669048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebonynightwriter/pseuds/ebonynightwriter
Summary: Hold up in a tiny cabin in snowy Arendelle, the Guardians of Light share some warmth, and a story.





	the laugh

**Author's Note:**

> -.-
> 
> **[terraqua week (2019) // day 3](http://ebonynightwriter.tumblr.com/tagged/mine:%20terraqua%20week%202019)** · seasons
> 
> -.-
> 
> **A/N:**I had a longer plan for this one, but the tone went all over the place. Might write the other half of this another time, but for now have this little moment. :)

Snow falls on Arendelle.

Standing beside the frosted cabin window, Terra found the sight to be almost... mesmerizing – despite how commonplace it was in this world. Trapped within his own heart, he had gone so long without sight, without the touch or sense of any kind of weather, that he'd almost forgotten what it was like to see the nature of the world shift before his eyes. The way it blanketed the land in a sense of calm wonder, slowing time as one looked upon it – Terra was glad to be there to witness it.

The others, however, did _not_ share his view.

“_Brrr-!” _Roxas says, bursting through the cabin door. “So _cold!_”

He then crosses the room in a hurry, maneuvering around the pieces of furniture that stood in room's center to reach the small fireplace on the other end. Removing his gloves, he sighs happily as he holds his hands to the warm flames, the tips of his fingers red from the cold.

Riku and Lea come through the door moments later.

“Jeez, look at all this,” Lea says, kicking the snow off his boots. “I swear I carried half the mountain on the way up here!”

Crossing his arms, Terra turns from the window.

“How did the meeting go?” he asks.

“Bunch of stuffy folks in a bunch of stuffy clothes,” Lea replies, waving a hand as he continued to slam his feet against the floor. “The usual.”

Riku throws him a look, then walks further into the room.

“There doesn't appear to be darkness within any of the guests,” he says, placing a hand on the edge of the couch that stood near the entryway. “Everything was normal.”

“Good,” Terra replies. “Let's hope it stays that way.”

“Well, I just hope Elsa does something about this storm,” Lea says. “Girl can control the weather, but has us trek all the way up to this place in a near-blizzard!” Jumping over the back, he flops over the couch and deflates against its soft cushions. Closing his eyes for a moment, he cranes his head at the ceiling. “Wish we were staying at the palace...”

Riku takes a seat on a chair next to him.

“Elsa has enough on her mind right now,” he says. “Besides, there's too many of us here to _not_ draw some kind of attention. I saw half the room staring at your hair.”

“Oh, please,” Lea says, lifting his head. “Like they weren't doing the same thing to you.”

Terra shakes his head, turning back to the window. Roxas gets up from the fire, grabbing a blanket on the mantel to wrap himself in. He's drawn to the window as he does, staring at the falling snow.

“It sure is coming down...” he says, placing a hand on the window frame. Terra watches him, a light smile forming on his face. If this were Ven, he'd have his face pressed against the glass, wondering how much they were going to get that night. It just went to show that no matter how much they looked alike, Ven and Roxas were not one in the same.

He looks back to the window.

“It's been a while since I've seen snow like this,” Terra says. “The last time this happened at the Land of Departure, Master Eraqus had me and Aqua go out in it for the whole day.”

“The whole day?” Roxas repeats, turning to him. “Why?”

Glancing down, Terra smiles.

“Training,” he says. “The Master used to say, _'A Keyblade Master must be ready to face any conditions a world may have—_”

“—_even the weather._” A voice finishes. The entire room shifts to see Aqua standing in the threshold of the kitchen, a tray of steaming cups in her hands.

“I thought I'd make us a treat to keep us warm,” she says. “Help yourselves.”

Everyone takes up on the offer before spreading back around the room.

“So, what happened in the training?” Roxas asks, blowing the steam from his cup. Aqua smiles, setting the tray on a table before she goes to sit on a comfortable-looking chair beside the kitchen door.

“Terra tried to start a fire using _Fira_,” she says. “And burned off half his eyebrows.”

Terra gaps.

“Hey!” he says. “Don't tell them that!”

“Okay, okay,” Aqua says, hiding her smile. “They were only singed a _little_...”

Terra sighs. Riku takes a sip of his drink.

“What else did you guys do?”

Aqua _hmm's _as she looks elsewhere, thinking for a moment.

“Well, the goal of the exercise was to survive as best we could, so all we really had to do was to find shelter and make it as long as we could. We ended up finding an overhang on the path outside the training grounds, and then...”

Aqua pauses, mouth unhinged as her memories catch up with her. Then she smiles. Then, _grins_. And then she bursts with a laugh that fills the room.

Terra goes red, all the way to his ears.

“What's so funny?!”

Aqua continues to laugh, so much so that she places another hand on her drink to keep it from spilling. Setting it down, she wipes a stray tear from her eye as she finally stifles the laugh.

“We had these cloaks on to keep warm,” she explains, holding her fingers in a pitching position at her side as if she was holding the end of a long cloak. “So when we entered the cave, Terra opened up to the side, and in the deepest voice he could muster, said _'here'_.”

She strikes a sly pose at Terra as she finishes, and with that, the others burst into laughter.

“Wow, Terra!” Lea says, leaning over to grab him by the arm. “What a gentleman!”

Terra pulls away, crossing his arms.

“It wasn't like that!” he says. Aqua rocks back in her seat, the toothless grin stretched wide across her face. As the laughter fades around him, Terra can't help but watch her from the corner of his eyes – he hasn't her smile like that for a long time. Or laugh that loudly for that matter.

He turns back to the window as the conversation continues, the red flush lingering on his face.


End file.
